This is another one of the smaller parks that you wouldn’t make a trip just to visit on it’s own, but it is definitely worth spending a day or so exploring. The amazing colors – both in the landscape and in the samples of petrified wood – can not be described or fully captured.
We moved up to Peach Springs, AZ and setup the camper at the Grand Canyon Caverns RV park. The next day, we packed up the jeep & headed into the Hualapai Indian Reservation to drive into the canyon on Diamond Creek Rd. It is the only place we found that you can actually drive into the canyon. It is a 22mi “jeep” road thru a creek bed, but a gorgeous drive!
We did have rain on/off most of the time we were down there so we were grateful for the small camp shelter over the tables. Hardly keep kids out of the water anyway š The river is quite strong (and cold) though so mostly just playing at the waters edge – and making mud bombs.
We took a day trip up to the red rock country of the Coconino National Forest. Before we got there we stopped off and visited the Montezuma Castle National Monument.
Then we made our way to the Coconino Forest Visitors Center.
And took in a few of the gorgeous sights…
Even got some wiggles out at a park playground with a beautiful background.
That evening, we got to catch up with some family who happen to be vacationing in the area. Thanks Dad & Sandy for making the drive to see us!
Then the next morning, we headed back to the Phoenix to pick up daddy from the airport. We were all happy to have him back home!
Great time trying out our cowboy/girl skills and seeing the western terrain as it was meant to be seen. We also learned some really cool facts from our cowboy guide about the local area and how to survive in the desert šµ
Due to an important mtg in AR, we setup in Black Canyon then took Drew to the Phoenix airport to fly back for a few days.
The kids and I spent the first days catching up on some school-work, laundry, and cleaning. We also took some time to relax & play too.
Our first stop in AZ was in Tucson. Thanks to the hospitality of a friend in aviation, we stayed near the airport. There is actually two parts to this park – on either side of Tucson. We visited the west park, because of the great desert museum nearby.
The saguaro cactus is truly amazing. It doesn’t grow it’s first arm until it is almost 50yrs old and can live for 200+ yrs. After a tour of the visitors center, attending a Park Ranger talk, and a short film on Native America cultures in the area, we made our way into the park to hike around.
The next morning, when it was a bit cooler, we visited the Desert Museum and Zoo just south of the park. We arrive just in time to see the “Raptor Free Flight” show which is an awesome display of raptor birds in flight – my photo / video skills didn’t fully capture the coolness factor on this one!
Afterwards we toured the other desert animals, including our new local favorite – the javelinas, which look like a pig and smell like a skunk š They actually are more closely related to hippos than pigs though.
That afternoon we visited some family in the area at a festival celebrating local cultures.
The festival was at a historic family cattle ranch that also had several displays about life in the west.
Getting some travel energy out on an old-school playground at the campground. Pretty sure this is this first time our kids have used a teeter-totter š³
This park is part of the same ancient sea bed and reef as the Carlsbad Caverns. It has a large wilderness area that is recommended as a great place to try out backpacking and multi-day hikes – before you try out larger, more intimidating parks.
While Drew & I enjoy backpacking, most of the hikes were too long for the kiddos. And a cold-front showed up just as we did. Which made for some cool clouds pics of the mountains, but a lil too chilly to hike for very long. We did get to learn about the area at the visitors center and with the Junior Ranger booklet.
This park is one of the most unique parks we’ve seen so far. It is such a different world underground and it is so fascinating to see how it was all created.
On the way into the park, we saw a a large herd of big-horned sheep on a cliff side.
We started at the visitors center by getting the Junior Ranger books & then did a quick tour of the exhibits.
Then we started our journey into the caves. The natural entrance is about a 1.5 mile trail into the darkness with a drop of 755 ft into the earth.
They’ve done a great job with this park creating subtle light around the features while still allowing you to get a feel for the darkness of the caves. I tried lightening up some of the pics thou so you could see them š
The trail winding thru the “Big Room” is about 1.25 miles and has the sq-footage of 16 football fields. It is the largest natural limestone cavern in the Western Hemisphere.
The kids did great and only started getting tired at the end. As we finished up, Madi said, “I’m so amazed, I can’t be amazed anymore.” š We were very grateful for the elevator ride back to the surface! Once there, they finished up their Junior Ranger booklets.
Adding another state today. We are headed to our next parks – Guadalupe Mountains & Carlsbad Caverns.
50 in 365 